“Bringing a Little Bit of Heaven to Humanity”: Raising Hell While Interrupting Traditional Methods for the Purpose of Justice

• In Event: Disrupting Qualitative Inquiry: Possibilities and Tensions of Educational Research

Abstract

The title of paper is taken from a conversation with a colleague about the intention of interrupting the status quo in community-based research. During their interaction the author mentioned how “raising hell” is often a precondition in the radical tradition of engaged, activist research. In response, a colleague stated that we should not raise hell but instead “bring a little bit of heaven to humanity.” As a result of that insight, the author identified disruptive qualitative methods as the “heaven” researchers can contribute to humanity. Integral to this particular conceptualization of disruption is realizing that despite the unpopularity of authentic community engagement, it has the inverse affect as a recruitment tool for students and like-minded faculty at the university level. Using the city of Chicago as the site, the chapter highlights the author’s experience as an activist, fighting against the proposed school closing where he was also working as a teacher and researcher. This paper engages in truth-telling as a critical component of disruption.

Author

• David O. Stovall, University of Illinois at Chicago